Last Stranger
by Robot Heart
Summary: We never know what's going to happen to us. Who are we going to meet, how we get there, where are we going? All Gaara knew was that he met her on his ride home from work, she was his soul mate. To bad he hadn't the time to figure it out.


_**A/N:**_

Because when you have no internet, there isn't much else to do except write. Not that I don't love writing. I realize my last fiction was rushed and I apologize for that.

Anyways, hope you enjoy this next installment.

I thought I've done this before, but I'm trying to convince myself I haven't without actually checking. Oh well~

This is Alternate Universe. No; ninja speed, shurkien, Justus, demons or any of that cool stuff.

Ino X Gaara

Gaara's point of view

**Song When I Started:** "_Chasing Cars_" – Snow Patrol

**Song When I Finished:** "_Two is better than one_" – Boys like Girls feat. Taylor Swift

**Total:** 22

* * *

_All that I am_

_All that I ever was_

_Is here in your perfect eyes_

_They're all I can see_

* * *

Sighing I scan over the document again hoping there was no mistakes when there was a quick knock at my door. I span in my leather chair to look in the direction of the door and I saw my best friend. With his jacket slung behind his shoulder, tie loosened and messy golden locks he looked as normal as ever. The only difference being the tiredness in his usual shining blue eyes.

"Come on Gaara, you can't work forever." He notes

I try to smile but all that happens is a yawn which caused my work partner to snicker and me to glare.

"What time is it?" I ask, turning back to the computer to check for myself

"Around 1" "1:15" we answer at the same time

He raises a brow at me, I do too but I doubt he notices. After loosing a bet to the defense minister I was forced to shave off my eyebrows, working in politics didn't always have to be boring. Kiba was in for it the next time, when I won I would make him shave his dog or… replace the mutt with a cat.

"Wow that late already?" I question and save the document, close it and start the shut down process all in a matter of seconds.

"Yeah, well I'm going to take off hope you can make it home alright" Naruto comments,

"Wait! You think I can get a ride?" I ask and notice he's not there anymore but his head ducks back in from the right side of the door. I knew his office was that way so he must of forgotten something, the office full of pictures of his wife and children…I feel the envy build inside me and push it down forcefully.

"My car got impounded, remember? Were stuck on the subway, buddy" he jokes

"Oh right…" I answered, vaguely remembering that he told me about it

"Well cyah'" he notes and waves, I return the wave.

I straighten out the papers and stand up, stretching as I go. Looking at my desk, I notice my computers shut down so I turn off the power bar. I pull on my jacket, throw on my scarf and grab my suitcase after closing it, finally leaving my office after turning off the lights.

I see Naruto again; wavering as he's about to push the button and he finally turns back towards me. Taking a full stride before noticing me standing there, then he does and falters, opening his mouth,

"…Gaara!" he notes, surprised

"What is it now?" I ask knowing he's got something on his mind.

"You know that dinner my wife asked you over for?" he asks

I think about it…it probably happened sometime last week when Sakura came to bring Naruto his forgotten lunch.

"Yeah, what about it?" I question after remembering it was tomorrow

"Well…my wife invited over a friend of hers and she's kind of hoping you two…" he starts rambling but I quickly cut him off when I catch what he's getting at.

"You're setting me up." I state

"No I'm not it's just a..!"

"Naruto?" I question, anger rising within me.

"Relax, you might like her" he suggests

"That's what you said for the last…six…setups you've put me on!" I yell, pausing to recollect just how many set-ups there were.

"Not my fault" he dodges

"Go die" I mutter

"Come on Gaara…Last one, I promise." He pleads

"…Fine" I give

"Yay! Sakura will be so happy!" he cheers entering the elevator as it comes up.

I enter the elevator too and push the ground floor button for us

"What's her name?" I ask, for light conversation.

"Her name's Ino…she's Sakura's best friend, although it doesn't seem like it" he explains

"Why's that?" I inquire, actually interested

"They fight all the time! Last time she was over they destroyed two lamps, a couch and our TV!" He whined

"…Did I do something? Is _that_ why you want to kill me?" I ask, we get out of the elevator and walk in step besides each other, towards the subway.

"No. You'll be fine. She only seems to want to kill Sakura after all, I'm still alive" he comments.

"Not for long" I mutter

He slaps me on the back hard, laughing. I stumble trying to regain my balance before I fall down the stairs; I manage to do it but, he's still laughing. So I descend the stairs without him,

"My bad! Wait up, Gaara" he yells after me.

Unfortunately I have to pause to put my ticket through, so he caught up and we started walking towards line 7.

"Look, I can get you out of the dinner if you want" he suggested

I sigh, I couldn't leave him hanging and I needed a day off _sometime_ so I just shake my head.

"No, I'll come…you'll be there anyways" I comment

"I will…" he notes

And the moment was ruined when he decided to finish his sentence.

"And I can be your wingman! And help you score!"

"Fuck off, blondie" I glare at him.

"Hey, she's blonde too" he complains

"Nice to know, since I won't be seeing her" I tease

"Gaara!" He whines

"Look there's my exit" I note, pointing to the westbound number 7, too bad Naruto had to go on the eastbound.

"Ga…" he starts again

"Shut your face, I'm coming already." I note

Then he smiles and we split as I turn into my tunnel,

"Cyah tomorrow" he notes

"Were seeing each other in a second, dumb ass" I mumble.

Sure enough, when I got to my platform he was on the other side of the tracks, and he waved to me like the idiot he was. Then I waved back like the friend I am, and even gave him a smile, it seemed I wasn't as tired anymore.

My train came first and I clambered onto an empty section, waving out the window to Naruto. I then collapsed on the seat and looked around as more people came onto the section, there were only 4 of us when the train took off and at the next station two of them got off and a blonde woman got on. She sat across from me and I looked at her, thinking she looked kind of familiar to me. She smiled at me when she noticed I was looking and I smiled back lazily looking away afterwards, when we got to the next station the other guy got off.

Then it was only her and I on this section and probably on the entire train, her phone rang loudly. Shuffling inside her purse she drew it out and picked it up, luckily for her this section of the ride was over ground.

"Hello" she answered in a voice I found I liked

"Who is this?" she asked, suspiciously

"I'm sorry; you got the wrong number…" she notes

"This is Ino Yamanaka" she says, annoyed.

My eyes widen, no…it was probably a coincidence or something. She finally hung up only to pick up the phone as it rang again.

"Hello!?" she demands a little more then peeved.

"Oh hi Sakura" she greets

I turn and realize she _was_ my blind date, and I examine her more carefully. Long blonde hair, blue eyes, pale skin but not too pale, and pink lips. Her body was curvy but hidden by a coat that reached her knees standing but only reached her mid-thigh now. I realized now she looked a bit like a female Naruto, only missing the scars that adorned his cheeks.

"You _what_?" she questions,

I can't help but listen in.

"Not another blind date, forehead" she whines

I smiled at the forehead part, so she had noticed too. I can't help wondering why she didn't know either come on; couldn't one of them be on top of this set-up?

"No good can come from this and I have proof!"

Unknown to me I asked the same question as the voice on the other line _Proof?_

"First there was Shino from that green peace organization you raved about, turned out he was way more into bugs then into me. Secondly, there was the unemotional painter that you apparently set me up 'online' with Sai-if-that-is-his-actual-name. Then, there was Chouji _our freaking mailman_, we were best friends before you swung your billboard our way!" she took a pause here, only to inhale a breath.

"Last but not least, there was Sasuke…_now_ this was where I thought you had finally proven yourself. You brought me a hot piece of man-solider straight from the war, but _no _oh _no _he _had_ to be a man turned enemy spy…" she paused as I heard Sakura cut in, but I only heard mumbles.

"I don't _care_ about the history between you, him and that dopey husband of yours! The point is Sak-ur-a, despite whatever happened no gun pointed at my head can be forgiven…"

_Gun!?_

"…Breathe Sakura, look; I know I went overboard but…it's true"

I wait,

"I'm sorry?" she questions

"FINE I'll go on your stupid date"

I smirk and look at her again and she smiles an open-toothed smile at me that's extremely false.

"Be quiet forehead or the next time I see you I'll shove my fist in your mouth"

"So what's his name, what's he do?"

I can distinctly hear my name on the other side of the phone.

"Naruto works with the government right?" she asks

I have a strong urge to be telling her this myself and I can't seem to shake it off.

"Hello!?" she questions and I notice were in a tunnel again.

"Hello!!" she shouts then hangs up.

"Geez all I know is his name's Gaara"

I smile and wonder how the best way to do this is.

"Sorry about that" she apologizes to me and I nod curtly

"So who did I scare away today?" she asks after a moment, with a broad smile

At this I can only laugh a little and look at her, she responds by tilting her head to the left and raising the same brow.

"Gaara"

I say this sticking out my hand, at first she looks utterly confused, blushed; was angry and finally frown-y.

"What are the coincidences, I'm Ino Yamanaka."

She shakes my hand cautiously.

"I realized that" I say with a smile

"Was this your idea?" she asks finally getting to the point.

"Not at all Naruto just told me today…"

"What?"

"Yeah, but it shouldn't be that hard to believe they never seem to be well coordinated"

"You've noticed too!?"

"Yeah"

"I mean I thought Sakura would be the boss in that relationship because she was _always_ bossy, even when we were kids! But no, there seems to be no conversation between the two at all"

"…" I smirk

"Of course forehead gets a relationship where she does nothing and when she does she can tell her hubby afterwards without him getting mad!"

"Jealous?" I ask

"No way in freaking hell!" she shouts

I wait.

"Okay, maybe a little…Sakura's been my best friend since forever, I practically raised her. Now, she went down the aisle before me and thinks she needs to play match maker with me I mean…"

"Ino"

"…It's not my fault if I feel jealous because they have a great thing going for them…"

"Ino" I sigh

"What?"

"Just…never mind them…tell me about you" I say with a smirk.

Who said I wasn't good with woman?

"Me…?"

"Is that so hard to believe?" I ask

I see a faint blush and can't help but feel my ego boost.

"Uhhh, I'm 24 and work for a fashion designer. I design clothes according to what my boss wants me to but I really want to start my own line of clothes some time. I'm probably what most people call a workaholic…" she laughs a bit

"I'm exactly the same, Naruto's actually the one who told me to go home" I joke, lamely.

She smiles

"What about you..?" she asks

"…I'm 25 and I work in politics as the President's right hand man, organizing his meetings, writing his speeches…"

She laughs,

"What?"

"You are the president then, except no title!" she jokes.

I smile,

"I guess you could say that" I respond

I pleasant silent ensues.

"When I was 5 I thought I wanted to be the president" she shares

"Oh?"

"Yeah kind of a silly dream…" she trails.

"Not really, I mean at least you didn't want to be queen of the world."

"Pfft, that'd be too easy" she jokes

I smirk.

I decide to take the plunge,

"I couldn't help overhearing your conversation" I note

"Oh?" she demands

"The gun part…" I comment

"That's none of your business" she looks away

"Oh…"

I wait.

An uncomfortable silence ensues

"I'm just wondering because I was on the for-front of the war and I might know a little bit about soldiers…"

"His name was Sasuke…."

A pause,

"His family got killed in the first war by his own brother who joined the enemies' side. He grew up with Sakura and Naruto, but ran off to the next war when they called, he left them…"

She bit her lip before talking again;

"Worse of all, he joined this wars' enemy, Otogakure and he came back disguised as a soldier simply coming back from the war. When he was dating me he…pointed a gun at my head to get what he wanted. He's an asshole but Sakura and Naruto still love him, he's still alive too. Gah!" she ranted

In a brave move I got up and moved next to her sliding an arm around her, patting her back.

"I know him; He's in the institution isn't he?"

"Yeah…"

"Well he is pretty good-looking" I say, it wasn't like anyone could hear the gay comment.

She laughs, loudly.

"What are you, gay?"

Okay, except for her.

"Just thought it'd cheer you up" I comment.

"It did" she said with a sigh, leaning her head on my shoulder

"How bout' a game of 20 questions?" she asks

"Huh?"

"Who was the last person you kissed?"

"Uhh…" I think

"Naruto for me" she answers her own question

"..Why?"

"It was to piss off forehead, now come on…"

"Naruto" I respond and she laughs

"You are gay!"

"No, the defense minister just happens to be a lucky asshole"

The train vibrates, shaking a bit and I hear a snap, I grab Ino closer to me and she just smiles as if it was nothing.

"Come on…ask a question" she says shaking my arm.

"Uhhh, what's your favorite color?"

"Lame, my favorite colors are purple and red.

"…I like red…" I start before I'm cut off by a sudden screech of the wheels as the train turns.

"Let's see… if you could be anywhere in the world right now where would it be?"

"Off this train" I answer fast,

Then the train stops and we slam against the wall, and this time she grabs me.

But the train didn't stop.

Something else was happening; unfortunately I had no idea what it was I couldn't even distinguish _where_ I was. I knew my head hit a lot of things and I was toppled over myself several times. Then it all went blank and I realized that we were in a train crash, our train going completely off the tracks in the wide tunnel.

"Gaara"

I silently wondered how the end of my life came in a train crash,

"Gaara!"

I kind of imagined falling to my death.

"Gaara"

I wake.

I stared up at the beauty that was Ino, even in her tattered state with a gash on her forehead. I sat up and I saw my left leg was under the rubble and Ino hugged me mumbling something about me being alive.

"Can you get a signal?" I asked

She shook her head and I sighed.

"Help me move this rubble" I request

She helps me try and move it but we find we can't.

"We just passed an over ground section, go call for help!"

"But-"

"Please, Ino"

She hugs me one last time and gives me a quick kiss.

"Don't die, but in case you do…you won't seem so gay" she tries to make a joke and starts running away.

I watch until I can't see or hear her anymore and I hold my leg, finally paying attention to the screams of pain it had been giving me. I drag out my cell phone and try it, only to have the same result, and then in the distance I hear something.

It wasn't Ino's footsteps.

It wasn't my cell phone ringing.

It wasn't the noise of the electrical wire flying around.

It was another train, coming down the tracks.

* * *

_Cause when I close my eyes and drift away_

_I think of you and everything's okay_

_I'm finally now believing_

_That maybe it's true; that I can't live without you_

_And maybe two is better then one_

_

* * *

  
_

I thought of the whole train crash scenario before, if you got stuck on a train that was bound to crash, but you didn't know it. You were also stuck on that same train with a person, who happened to be your soul mate. I love destiny and irony and Naruto.

I also love the song "Fireflies" and... you readers

Sorry for Gaara's OOCness

R&R pretty please~


End file.
